New York (AFP) – The NBA will open its 2024-25 season with the reigning champion Boston Celtics hosting New York and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting Minnesota in a schedule unveiled on Thursday. The 79th NBA regular season tips off with those contests on Tuesday, October 22, and concludes on April 13, 2025, when all 30 teams play. The Celtics will unfurl an 18th NBA championship banner before facing the Knicks in a matchup of the top two Eastern Conference playoff seeds.
All-time NBA scoring leader LeBron James will begin a record-tying 22nd league campaign when the Lakers play host to Minnesota, the Timberwolves coming off their second-best season and a first trip in 20 years to the Western Conference final. The NBA playoffs will begin on April 19, after play-in games April 15-18, with the best-of-seven NBA Finals set to start on June 5. Each team will play 82 regular-season games, with some matchups to be determined as a result of the NBA Cup, the in-season tournament that begins November 12 and concludes in December in Las Vegas.
On October 23, the second day of the NBA campaign, nine-time NBA All-Star Paul George makes his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks, and the Los Angeles Clippers play their first game in their new home arena, the Intuit Dome, against Phoenix. Reigning Western Conference champion Dallas, with new guard Klay Thompson, will play host on October 24 to San Antonio, with reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama of France and new Spurs guard Chris Paul starting his 20th NBA campaign. That night also sees Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder visit reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets.
On October 25, Phoenix will visit the Lakers and Indiana will face New York. The NBA will stage five games on Christmas, with San Antonio at New York, Minnesota at Dallas, the Lakers at Golden State, Philadelphia at Boston, and Denver at Phoenix. Martin Luther King Jr. Day will feature Minnesota at Memphis, Boston at Golden State, and Dallas at Charlotte.
An NBA rivals week will be staged January 21-25, with the final day seeing Boston at Dallas in a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals, plus Denver at Minnesota and the Lakers at Golden State. The NBA will have no games on November 5, U.S. election day, in a bid to encourage fans to vote. All 30 teams will play on November 4. The NBA will also stage games at Mexico City on November 2 between the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards and on January 23 and 25, 2025, at Paris between Indiana and San Antonio.
George, who played with the Clippers the past five seasons, will visit his former club with his new 76ers’ teammates on November 6. Thompson will lead Dallas into San Francisco on November 12 to face his former club, the Golden State Warriors. Wembanyama, last year’s top pick in the NBA Draft, and this year’s first selection, fellow Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks, are set to play against each other on December 19 in San Antonio and February 5 at Atlanta. The Celtics will play host to Dallas in an NBA Finals rematch game on February 6.
On February 20, the San Antonio Spurs will play a home game at nearby Austin in Moody Center on the University of Texas campus against the Phoenix Suns, with Suns star Kevin Durant back in the city where he was a collegiate star with the Longhorns. The 2025 NBA All-Star Game will be played on February 16 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
© 2024 AFP
